Scientists Create Rare Fifth Form of Matter in Space for the First Time Ever

[Judi Lynn]

By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | November 2, 2018 10:11am ET

For a few minutes on Jan. 23, 2017, the coldest spot in the known universe was a tiny microchip hovering 150 miles over Kiruna, Sweden.

The chip was small — about the size of a postage stamp — and loaded with thousands of tightly-packed rubidium-87 atoms. Scientists launched that chip into space aboard an unpiloted, 40-foot-long (12 meters) rocket, then bombarded it with lasers until the atoms inside it cooled to minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius) — a fraction of a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature in nature.

While the rocket bobbed in low gravity for the following 6 minutes, scientists were given a rare opportunity to study in-depth the weirdest, least-understood state of matter in the universe — the Bose-Einstein condensate. For the first time ever, scientists had created one in space.

Unlike the other four states of matter (solids, liquids, gases and plasmas), Bose-Einstein condensates can form only when clouds of gassy atoms cool to within a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. When groups of atoms are cooled to such unfathomably low temperatures, they stop moving as individuals and meld into one big "super atom." Tens of thousands of atoms suddenly become indistinguishable from one another, slowly vibrating on a uniform wavelength that can, theoretically, pick up the tiniest gravitational disturbances around them.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/63999-fifth-form-of-matter-created.html

[shenmue]

1. I HAS A SKEERD

[erlewyne]

2. Absolute zero!

Trump?


Pardon me Judi Lynn, I love your posts.

I have this first word (that comes into your mind) syndrome.

Keep up the good work.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Interesting. Wonder if this leads to other interesting finds, such as developing ...

new technologies that use this type of matter, e.g., being that the tens of thousands of atoms are all acting as a 'super' atom, perhaps the normal property of a single atom, being magnified by 10s of thousands can be used somehow. Amazing and neat.

[PJMcK]

7. Gravitational wave detecting?

Tens of thousands of atoms suddenly become indistinguishable from one another, slowly vibrating on a uniform wavelength that can, theoretically, pick up the tiniest gravitational disturbances around them.

The LIGO detectors are theoretically able to detect gravitational waves from before the universe cooled from a plasma to transparency, about 300,000 years after the Big Bang, I think.

Could this technology assist with those endeavors?

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Sounds logical. Also wonder if what happens to all of the electrons and the ...

generation of power, e.g., could massive amounts of energy be generated? What happens to all of the electrons in such a state? Possibilities are endless perhaps.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Kicking. eom

[lastlib]

5. Fascinating stuff!

(But does it really, um, *matter*? )

[Silver Gaia]

6. Awesome. Simply awesome.